With the economy still shedding jobs and cities cutting people and services due to dwindling sales tax revenues, box stores are all of a sudden not looking too bad. Often criticized for their low wages and driving mom and pop shops out of business, box stores are getting a second look, even in cities where they were banned. Take Bellingham, Washington where in 2006 the city council capped all retail buildings at 95,000 square feet. Concerned about losing its two biggest retailers which want to expand, Costco and Wal-Mart, the city council is considering a proposal to lift the cap. A neighboring city already dumped its cap and is now rolling out the red carpet hoping to snag the more than 600 jobs.

Wal-Mart, which is the country’s largest employer with 1.9 million workers, takes heat from unions (mainly the United Food and Commercial Workers) for the wages it pays and the fact that it works hard to keep the unions out. The UFCW is still trying to organize Wal-Mart employees and is urging city councils to keep their box store bans in place arguing that the jobs and low cost items come at a high price to a community.

Wal-Mart claims its low prices save consumers $100-billion per year and the average family about $600. per year. People who are on tight budgets right now are making their voices heard and cities like Bellingham are now listening.